


The way you look tonight

by serendipitous_rambles



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Married dancing at 3 am, Mileven, extreme fluff, super sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 11:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19424941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitous_rambles/pseuds/serendipitous_rambles
Summary: Married Mileven dancing at 3 am ...what more could you want?





	The way you look tonight

Mike awoke to the dark room. He leaned over to read the glowing numbers on his alarm clock: 2:58 am. As he settled back under the covers he reached an arm across, almost a habit now, to pull El closer to him. But he was met with nothing. 

He sat up, flicking on the lamp on their bedside table. The blanket was slightly ruffled but warm, meaning she hadn't gotten up that long ago. Somehow he always seemed to wake up whenever she did, even if she made no noise. Others would call it an inconvenience but not Mike. 

Although the nightmares were rare these days, it didn't mean they'd completely gone. She could go months without any sign of distress, but other nights would be too much. Mike also had nightmares. Even after having El in his life for almost 12 years now, there would be nights when he woke up in a cold sweat, the image of her fading away out of his arms while he could do nothing but watch. Still, they made it through together. They'd always be there for each other. They'd promised.

Mike ran his fingers over the new gold band on his left hand. He still couldn't believe it had already been a month since they were married. But at the same time, it had felt like they'd been married for years. In a weird way, he supposed they always had acted like that especially in the early days. Their friends used to tease that they were practically married at 14. Even Hopper had taken a little while to fully warm up to the idea, but now he was one of the closest people to Mike. Family.

Mike yawned, running a hand through his hair that hadn't gotten any less unmanageable with age, and stood up out of bed. He stumbled his way through their small apartment to the living room where he could hear a faint humming along to a song. El sometimes sang to herself, something she'd picked up from Will as a way to try and calm herself.

He watched her slowly sway to the record with her eyes closed. When they first moved in together, Hopper had given them a box of old vinyl records. El loved to rummage through them.

She was slowly moving,  _ The Way You Look Tonight  _ quietly playing in the background. He watched her hold up her hand, feeling the rings on her finger ( _ his  _ rings he'd given her), and clutch the hand against her chest. 

Mike still couldn't believe he was hers. Every day he woke up and had to make sure he wasn't dreaming. That he really had found someone like her to love him back. They'd been through demogorgons, shadow monsters, separation and risked their lives countless of times. But they still found each other through it all. He was still entranced by her. By the way she smiled, the way she would tuck her hair behind her ears when she was nervous, by how she so clearly understood him without him needing to say anything. It had been and always will be Mike and El.

He smiled, still watching his wife. (His  _ wife.  _ He still felt giddy at the thought he was now allowed to call her that.) Slowly and carefully, not wanting to startle her, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing the top of her head.

She let out a sigh of relief, feeling safe.

He started to gently sway along with her, mumbling the words of the song in her ear.

" _ Cause I love you, just the way you look tonight… _ "

He moved his hands to her arms and spun her around so she was facing him. All of a sudden he felt 13 again, dancing in a sweaty gym with the girl he knew he already loved, foreheads pressed together after almost a year of being apart. In a way, they were still those same kids. But now they had grown up, they were married and never to be separated again.

" _ And that laugh that wrinkles your nose… _ ." Mike gently tapped her on the nose as he sang and she laughed, her head falling on his shoulder.

" _ It touches my foolish heart… _ " he rested their joined hands across his chest over his heart. El could feel it beating. Even after all these years his heart was still a crazy mess whenever he was around El - so pretty much all the time. He didn't know how he was still alive.

"I had another nightmare." She suddenly said, looking up at him. They were still slowly swaying along to the song.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sometimes she wouldn't want to, but Mike would stay up with her until she felt like she could sleep again. Other times she talked him through it.

"It was like the void...and you just disappeared into thin air. But then I woke up and saw you asleep and I was ok."

"So why are you still up?" He didn't mean it to sound rude. He was just curious as to why she didn't go back to sleep.

"Because I couldn't sleep. I still can't believe all this is real. I'm terrified I'll one day wake up back…" she trailed off and Mike kissed her head.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Ever." He pulled her against him, burying his head against her neck. "You're safe. The bad men, everything...it's gone now."

"I know." She held back a son. "It's just sometimes I worry…."

"I'm always here. I'll never sleep again if it means you're safe."

"Mike." She laughed. He was so dramatic sometimes. But she loved it. 

She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him down towards her, kissing him gently.

"I love you, you know that." He whispered.

She nodded, touching her forehead to his. "I love you too... very much."

He leaned back, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb. The song had ended so he went and rummaged in the box for another record.

He finally found one, setting it up on the player.

El watched in half horror, half endearment as Mike started dancing awfully and singing along to the song.

" _ You're just too good to be true… can't take my eyes off of you... _ " he pointed at her and she threw her head back laughing like a child.

He started waving his arms around clumsily, grabbing her own hands and spinning her around.

_ "I love you baby, and if it's quite alright I need you baby,"  _ he started jumping moving their arms around and spinning in circles. 

He was clumsy, still not having grown into his limbs at 24 years old. El was laughing like mad, screaming as she sang along. They were dancing like a couple of toddlers. He always knew how to make her feel better, make her laugh like she'd never laughed before.

" _ Let me love you baby, met me love youuuu! _ " They both shouted, pulling their arms in time to the beat like a bad game of tug of war.

They fell against each other on the couch, the music still playing in the background. El leaned her head against Mike's shoulder and he leaned his cheek against the top of her head. They were both breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath. Maybe they weren't 13 years old anymore.

Suddenly a loud thumping came from the floor and a muffled yelling. It was their downstairs neighbour…

"Shit...I forgot it was like 3 am…" Mike bolted upright.

El flicked her head and the music went quiet and the lights turned off. Moments later the banging had moved from the floor to their front door.

"It is 3 am!" The old cranky lady from downstairs had started yelling at their door. 

Mike and El sank lower on the couch, holding their breath and clutching each other tight.

"Maybe she'll go away if we ignore her…" Mike whispered, terrified of confrontation this early in the morning.

They held each other tightly, but must have fallen asleep at some point as El woke up to sunlight coming in through the crack in the curtain. She saw Mike still passed out on the couch, his arm loosely draped around her.

How lucky she was to be married to him. She settled back down, cuddling against him. The day could wait.

  
  
  



End file.
